Dear Teen, There is So Much More To Life Than High School

This post was originally published on Her View From Home.

Sweet girl, your high school graduation is quickly approaching. What a big day! You may think this night will be the culmination of your life—and that it will be. The culmination so far.

High school is glorious and wonderous in its own ways. I’m sure you’ve learned about your strengths and weaknesses, found security in your routine, and feel peace inside the bubble of your family and friends. There were first dates, first kisses, proms, state championships, and a ridiculous amount of fun, pain, and chaos in between.

But, your life is just beginning.

Some of the people you walk across that stage with will be by your side for the rest of your life, but the majority of them won’t be. The embarrassing parts of your growing up that have been burned in your brain will eventually be forgotten. The stupid choices and mistakes you can’t seem to leave behind will still follow you, and you’ll probably make more of the same, but you will learn.

I know it feels like life can’t get any better than it is right now, but it can. And it will. High school will not be the best days of your life.

One day you will walk down the aisle to the person that you know God handcrafted to fill all the empty and broken spots inside of you.

You are going to find a job you love with a boss that pushes all your buttons. You’re going to find a dead-end job that makes you bored but has the best boss in the world. You are going to switch career paths more than you will care to admit, but that means you’re growing.

You are going to question yourself, probably daily, but I think that’s a good thing.

You’ll meet people you can’t stand, but then years down the road, you find yourself emulating some of their admirable qualities. You’ll find people you swear will be in your life forever only to be done wrong by them, but you’ll be alright. You’re tough.

One day, if it’s your heart’s desire, you will find a newborn baby fresh from heaven laid on your chest. You’ll be crying tears that are a mixture of relief, fear, and joy. You’ll cry these same tears for the rest of your life due to that tiny human, so prepare yourself.

You are going to do big things. Scary things. You will mess up. You will learn how to do better. There will be good and bad. You are about to step forward into the world of more freedom and it’s up to you to figure out what to do with it.

I know it feels like your life is reaching its peak right now, but there is more to come. So. Much More. 

High school will always be coins in your memory bank, but from here on out you will be adding in dollar bills.

Don’t be afraid of the unknown, leap into it with open arms.

Sweet girl, you deserve the world. Don’t let anything hold you back. The best is yet to come.

Life is just beginning.

ABC Show and Tell List: Items Around The House

Show and Tell is a very exciting time at school for the students! I know it’s my son’s favorite day of the week. Since he’s in preschool, they focus on one letter of the alphabet each week, so you guessed it — that’s the letter the show and tell item for the week needs to represent. Sometimes it’s not an easy task to get a kid that can’t read or spell to pick out an item that begins with a specific letter, so the task falls on mom.

This list is here to help you, mama!

Items around the house: A through Z

A – apple, airplane, astronaut, acorn, Anna (from Frozen), army men, animal crackers, aunt (photo)

B – ball, banana, blanket, belt, baby (doll), ballerina, baseball, bow, bowl, board game, boat, book, band aid

C – cat, card, candy, Cookie Monster, charger, cleat, cup, controller, Chapstick, CD, cheerios, cotton ball, car, crown

Read the rest of the list over on Knoxville Moms.

The Tip That Changed My Parenting: The 80-20 Rule

We all try our best to set boundaries and create rules for our children that will (hopefully) make them well-rounded, conscious contributors of society. We want them to grow up to be empathetic, content, and kind. Truly we all are just trying our best to raise kids that turn out to be good people.

But what happens when we let the rules become too much?

If you clicked on this blog post to read about how you can use the Pareto Principle in your parenting, you might be disappointed. The version of the 80-20 rule I’m talking about has little to do with inputs, outputs, or productivity in a business sense. All it entails is this: 80% of the time you hold fast to the rules and 20% of the time you don’t. That’s it. It’s that simple.

I should begin with saying I have toddlers. I am by no means qualified to give advice to anyone with children over the age of four and my 80-20 rule will look a lot different in 10 years than it does right now. I’m sure something we can all agree on is that rules often upset kids. Shoot, I’m an adult and sometimes rules upset me! We ask a lot of our kids, occasionally too much, and it can lead to frustration — both from the kids and on our end as parents.

Enter the 20%.

Read more over at Knoxville Moms.

Mama, Take The Kids

If you had told pre-kid me that I was going to fly solo across the country with my four-month-old baby, I would’ve called you insane. Sure, I have always had a love for travel, but traveling anywhere alone with my son had me overwhelmed in just a few minutes. I didn’t want to tackle a 30 minute trip to the Target in the next town over, much less various airports I’d never set foot in before. My son cried the entire 20 minute ride home from the hospital the first time we ever buckled him into his carseat…so I honestly tried to avoid traveling unless it was absolutely necessary.

But I’m here to tell you: Mama, take the kids anyway.

A trip of any sorts, whether it’s a day trip to Dollywood or a 7+ hour drive back home to visit family, can be a monumental undertaking, especially with young kids. If you decide to do anything out of the norm without the help of your spouse, then the moment you pull out of your driveway you’re probably thinking “Heaven help me. What have I done? I want to turn around.” Even the smallest day trip to the city pool or the “nice” park when you don’t have your partner for backup can induce anxiety and make you wonder if you might be insane for trying anything alone.

Mama, take the kids.

Read the rest over on Knoxville Moms.

What My Family Learned From ISR Swim Lessons

My husband and I grew up on the water. Almost all sunny weekends of my childhood were spent on a boat and my husband has only a few childhood memories that lack a swimming pool. If kids could’ve had fins, we both would’ve had them. Fast-forward to young married life and we spent all the free time we had at the beach (perks of going to college in Florida!). To say water is an integral part of our lives would be an understatement. Water ebbs and flows through our family and we want to pass that love, and the memories that come along with it, to our kids.

Our kids were in life jackets riding boats before they could sit up and I was a ball of anxiety. When you’re around water as much as we are, you know how things can go wrong in a split second with zero warning. Young kids and bodies of water, of any size, do not mix. Sure, I wanted my kids to experience life on the water and make memories like I did growing up, but I was completely unaware of how nerve-racking it would be for me. I was unprepared.

Enter: ISR swim lessons

Read the rest over on Knoxville Moms.